Office of Faculty Development Workshop – Introduction to TurnItIn
Presented by Eric A. Suess, Department of Statistics
This handout and all of the example files are available on line at
http://www.sci.csuhayward.edu/~esuess/FacDev/TurnItIn/turnitin.htm
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How to get stated using TurnItIn.
The best way to get started using TurnItIn is to become a registered member under the CSU Hayward account, then to create a class, and finally to submit a sample assignment for review by TurnItIn. CSU Hayward has a license for the software so you can use it anywhere via Internet Explorer or Netscape. The most important pieces of information you need to become a registered member are:
Account Number: 16011
Join Password : csuhayward2
Here is a link to the website for TurnItIn. Turnitin.com
The software.
The TurnItIn software can be accessed through the internet.
Use the updated version (4/20/03) of the CSU Hayward handout for Turnitin.com First-Time Users Instructions.
· Turnitin Instructions S-2.doc
Once you have become a registered user of TurnItIn under the CSU Haward license you can give the software a try. If you have used the Digital Drop Box from within Blackboard you will see that TurnItIn is basically the same but it checks the documents submitted for authenticity.
Exercise 1: A homework assignment from one of my classes. All numbers.
Consider the sample homework assignment from on of my classes that contains all computer output that are numbers.
First we will create a class. After you have entered TurnItIn you will have the Welcome window that looks something like this, Fig. 1. This is the your classes window.
Fig. 1 The list of your classes.
I have already created three classes in my account. To create a new class click on the add class button on the right side of the screen. Follow the directions to create a new class. Once you have created a new class, enter your new class by clicking on it. Note that now you have a second set of buttons to use, inbox, students, … , and preferences. The window below is the inbox, Fig. 2.
To submit the first example file, example1.doc, you will need to download it to the hard-drive of your computer. Right-click and save-as to the My Documents directory. The file that will be saved will be hwk1_for_stat_3900.doc
To submit an assignment you will first need to create and assignment by clicking on assignments and then the create a new paper assignment. Follow the instructions and then click submit.
Once you have an assignment created you can use the turn it in! button to turn in an assignment. To turn in an assignment you need the students first and last name, a paper title, and you need to select the assignment.
And then Browse… to the file you would like to submit. Once you have submitted a paper it will be compared to documents in the TurnItIn database and will return the results to your inbox.
Fig. 2 The class inbox.
The results from TurnItIn for an assignment will look something like Fig. 3 below. From the class inbox, Fig. 2, you can see the rating on the left of the student’s name. The originality report, Fig. 3, gives more details and a list of links to similar documents on the internet. The yellow rating is not that bad.
Exercise 2: Colin Powell's UN speech, from WorldNetDaily, article.
For a second example, let’s create a second homework assignment. Click on the assignments button. Follow the instructions to create the second assignment.
To submit the second example file, example2.doc, you will need to download it to the hard-drive of your computer. Right-click and save-as to the My Documents directory. The file that will be saved will be Colin Powell's UN speech.doc
Try to submit the second example file and you will need to login later to see the results it may take a while. See Fig. 4 for the originality report. The red rating is bad!
Fig. 3 An originality report for example1.doc
Fig. 4 The originality report for example2.doc
Final Thoughts:
The TurnItIn software can be used as a replacement to Blackboards Digital Drop Box. To use TurnItIn as a Digital Drop Box, when you create a class within TurnItIn save the student password to give to your students. They will then be able to login to TurnItIn to submit their work and to check their own work.
References:
Western University has a nice website for TurnItIn
http://turnitin.uwo.ca/index.htm
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